Representative Kevin McCarthy predicted his drawn-out fight to become speaker of the House would end in victory soon, but likely not before dragging beyond a fourth humiliating day.
(Bloomberg) — Representative Kevin McCarthy predicted his drawn-out fight to become speaker of the House would end in victory soon, but likely not before dragging beyond a fourth humiliating day.
McCarthy and his allies worked overnight to try to strike a deal with members of a group of holdouts who’ve blocked the California Republican from being elected speaker after a historic 11 rounds of voting. They have set a 10:15 a.m. Friday call with the Republican caucus to herd votes before reconvening at noon.
The standoff has left House Republicans fractured after they reclaimed the House majority in the November election and has frozen all other business in the chamber.
“We’re going to get it done,” McCarthy told reporters. “I don’t know if we will get there today, but we are going to make progress.”
He said some of his supporters may not be in Washington on Friday due to family issues.
McCarthy has tried to break the deadlock by offering significant concessions on House rules that would weaken his power and his ability to control hard-liners in his party, which raise the risk of chaos on issues like the debt ceiling and government spending.
Yet after three days of voting, 20 Republicans held firm in their opposition to McCarthy, more than enough to deny him the majority he needs.
McCarthy’s back-to-back losses marked a post-Civil War record for the number of ballots needed to select a speaker. In 1923, Frederick Gillett, a Massachusetts Republican, was elected to the post after nine ballots. The last multi-ballot speaker vote before that was in 1859, when 44 votes were needed.
Only six other speaker elections have taken more than 10 ballots. Election of the speaker is the first order of business for House members, and they can do nothing else until that’s done except adjourn.
House Gridlock Over Speaker Now Longest Since Before Civil War
A faction of the dissidents most interested in changing House procedural rules met with leadership and others throughout Thursday.
Representatives Chip Roy of Texas, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Byron Donalds of Florida are spearheading the attempt to force the changes needed to earn their votes. They are angling to open up floor procedures to amendment votes, forbidding giant packages of bills and to guarantee conservatives have more seats on key committees.
The talks are being facilitated by Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the incoming Financial Services chair, as well as the No. 3 House Republican Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Jason Smith of Missouri, a contender for the Ways and Means gavel, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, who will be the Judiciary chair.
As lawmakers plowed through speaker votes on the House floor, Emmer’s suite of offices was ground zero for negotiations.
Perry, chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, along with Representatives Chip Roy of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Ralph Norman of South Carolina were among McCarthy opponents frequently ducking in and out. Representative-elect Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a newcomer to the Capitol, relied on reporters to find the right door.
Also in the talks were moderates such as Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, and Dusty Johnson, who heads the Main Street caucus.
McCarthy said “everybody’s involved” in the negotiations. He dismissed any notion that the Republicans have been weakened by the rocky start for their new majority.
“It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish,” he said.
Ralph Norman of South Carolina, so far a hard “no” on McCarthy, suggested he could switch his vote if he likes the deal. He’s been pushing votes on term limits for lawmakers and a balanced budget, as well as a commitment to use a debt ceiling showdown later this year to cut spending.
Even if McCarthy reaches an agreement with these members, he could still fall short. Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado are among a small number who appear too dug in to negotiate, and Gaetz told reporters Thursday night that he had rejected the deal. That opens up the possibility that the conservative Freedom Caucus get the changes they demand in exchange for another establishment candidate like Majority Leader Steve Scalise or Emmer.
McHenry left closed-door talks late Thursday afternoon saying he was optimistic of getting a deal to secure McCarthy’s bid for speaker.
“I think we have the right contours that enable us to get Kevin McCarthy to have a majority vote,” McHenry said.
McCarthy has offered a group of dissidents one of their biggest demands: lowering the threshold to bring a motion to oust a speaker to just one lawmaker, a person familiar with the talks said.
Under current parliamentary rules, it would take half of the House GOP to forward such a motion to remove the leader. Changing that to just one lawmaker would leave the speaker, the second-in-line to the presidency, facing potential repetitive attempts for removal.
The most hardcore dissidents haven’t been part of the talks. They include Boebert, as well as Andy Biggs of Arizona and Bob Good of Virginia. Matt Rosendale of Montana and Eli Crane of Arizona are also part of that group. It would take only five opponents to continue to block McCarthy.
“We need to get to a point where we start evaluating what life after Kevin McCarthy looks like,” Boebert said on the House floor as she nominated Representative Kevin Hern of Oklahoma for speaker.
–With assistance from Emily Wilkins, Christian Hall, Laura Litvan, Zach C. Cohen and Jarrell Dillard.
(Updates with McCarthy quotes in fourth paragraph.)
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